A decrease in oil price will lead to wide spread job losses for employees and workers, according to a trade body.

Figures from trade body Oil & Gas UK suggest that the number of wells drilled in the North Sea could be a third of last year’s total of 109. The body blames the combination of decrease oil prices and increases in tax.

James Beazle, director of energy recruiter Six Recruitment, told Recruiter: “As prices drop this is going to happen. Because of the oil price in the last two years there had been a frenzy in hiring and now there has to be an element of looking at whether they are needed,” adding some of the cuts were part of a normal review taken by the companies at this time of the year.

A leaked email posted on protest site royaldutchshellplc.com said the company was going to “ruthlessly review third party costs”, as it prepared for the coming year.

Beazle said: “We knew this was coming, it’s no surprise. Within the sector there are a lot of companies looking to strip costs at the moment and there’s been figures of 10 or 20%, that will mainly come from contract staff.”

The email also stated there would be “no increase in contractor staff rates” and a “review necessity of contract staff as contracts expire”.